"Napalm" is a combination of the names of two of the constituents of the thickening/gelling agent: co-precipitated aluminium salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. [2]"Napalm B" is the more modern version of napalm and, although distinctly different in its chemical composition, is often referred to simply as "napalm".[3]

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Napalm was used in flamethrowers, bombs and tanks in World War II. It is believed to have been formulated to burn at a specific rate and to adhere to surfaces to increase its stopping power. During combustion, napalm rapidly deoxygenates the available air and generates large amounts of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.[3]

This shortage of natural rubber prompted chemists at US companies such as Du Pont and Standard Oil, and researchers at Harvard University, to develop factory-made alternatives - artificial rubber for all uses, including vehicle tires, tank tracks, gaskets, hoses, medical supplies and rain clothing. A team of chemists led by Louis Fieser at Harvard University was the first to develop synthetic napalm, during 1942.[4] "The production of napalm was first entrusted to Nuodex Products, and by the middle of April 1942 they had developed a brown, dry powder that was not sticky by itself, but when mixed with gasoline turned into an extremely sticky and flammable substance." One of Fieser's colleagues suggested adding phosphorus to the mix which increased the "ability to penetrate deeply...into the musculature, where it would continue to burn day after day."[5]

On 4 July 1942, the first test occurred on the football field near the Harvard Business School.[5] Tests under operational conditions were carried out at Jefferson Proving Ground on condemned farm buildings, and subsequently at Dugway Proving Ground on buildings designed and constructed to represent those to be found in German and Japanese towns.[6][7] This new mixture of chemicals was widely used in the Second World War in incendiary bombs and in flamethrowers.

From 1965 to 1969, the Dow Chemical Company manufactured napalm B for the American armed forces. After news reports of napalm B's deadly and disfiguring effects were published, Dow Chemical experienced boycotts of its products, and its recruiters for new chemists, chemical engineers, etc., graduating from college were subject to campus boycotts. The management of the company decided that its "first obligation was the government." Meanwhile, napalm B became a symbol for the Vietnam War.[8]

Further use of napalm by American forces occurred in the Pacific Theater of Operations, where in 1944 and 1945, napalm was used as a tactical weapon against Japanese bunkers, pillboxes, tunnels, and other fortifications, especially on Saipan, Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa, where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender. Napalm bombs were dropped by aviators of the U.S. Navy, the United States Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Marine Corps in support of their ground troops.[13]

Napalm B was also used during the Greek Civil War between the Greek Army and Communist rebels. During 1949, the last year of the war, the United States increased its military aid to the Greek Government by introducing a new weapon to finish off the war: napalm B. The first napalm attack in Greece took place on the mountain of Grammos, which was the stronghold of the Communist rebels.[citation needed]

Napalm B became an intrinsic element of U.S. military action during the Vietnam War as forces increasingly employed its widespread tactical as well as psychological effects.[17] Reportedly about 388,000 tons of U.S. napalm bombs were dropped in the region between 1963 and 1973, compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and 16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945.[1]

The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy used napalm with great effect against all kinds of targets to include troops, tanks, buildings, jungles, and even railroad tunnels. The effect was not always purely physical as napalm had psychological effects on the enemy as well.[citation needed]

"Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine," said Kim Phúc, a napalm bombing survivor known from a famous Vietnam War photograph. "Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius (212°F). Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius (1,500-2,200°F)."[20]

When used as a part of an incendiary weapon, napalm can cause severe burns (ranging from superficial to subdermal), asphyxiation, unconsciousness, and death. In this implementation, napalm fires can create an atmosphere of greater than 20% carbon monoxide[3] and firestorms with self-perpetuating winds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). One of the main anti-personnel features of napalm is that it sticks to human skin, with no practical method for removal of the burning substance.

International law does not specifically prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets,[20] but use against civilian populations was banned by the United NationsConvention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in 1980.[22]Protocol III of the CCW restricts the use of all incendiary weapons, but a number of countries have not acceded to all of the protocols of the CCW. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), countries are considered a party to the convention, which entered into force as international law in December 1983, as long as they ratify at least two of the five protocols. The United States signed it approximately 25 years after the General Assembly adopted it, on January 21, 2009: President Barack Obama's first full day in office. Their ratification, however, is subject to a reservation that says it can disregard the treaty at its discretion if doing so would save civilian lives.

^Reference: see any good biography of the WW II Marine Corps pilot John Glenn, who dropped napalm on Okinawa. Also, see war films of American pilots dropping napalm on Japanese strong points on Okinawa[citation needed]. See Report of the Commanding General Eighth Army on the Luzon Mop-up Operation (February 1946)